Freemasons
Freemasons is a political party based in Tokyo. Charter We, the members of the Masonic Lodge of the CyberCitizens Freemasons step forward in brotherhood to proclaim our goal to secure the safety and betterment of our fraternity. As one, we strive to protect, serve, and better the lives of our fellow Masons to the utmost of our ability and until the failing of our minds and bodies. This, more than any other, is the aim of our brotherhood and the dream of every Mason. I. Structure A. Joining the Lodge The Blue Lodge is comprised of willing applicants from the CyberCitizens world. Membership is open to any who would apply. Dual membership is not allowed to the general membership, meaning you must remain exclusive to the lodge. The only exception to this rule is seen in those whom have joined prior to this this rule being implemented. To join the Lodge, a certain level of good morals is to be expected. Rarely is it that an applicant is turned away for this purpose, but in its nature is as serious as any other requirement. In addition, applicants must post their intent to join at the Freemasons Offsite Forum. B. Degrees within the Lodge There are three main degrees within the Lodge, the lowest of which being First, or Entered Apprentice, the next being Second, or Fellowcraft, and the highest being Third, or Master Mason. Each degree provides a greater extent of influence within the Lodge, and a greater view of the Lodge forums. C. London Rite The London Rite is the main governing body of our fraternity. It is composed of Master Masons selected by their peers that have contributed significant amounts of their time and energy to the Lodge. The Rite will decide when and if new members are needed. Voting in the Rite proceeds thusly: a general election occurs, each member has one vote, with the winning nominee (by a simple majority) being voted into the Rite. D. Knights Templar All applicants are automatically considered knights in reserve. The Knights Templar is the extra dedicated of the Freemasons. The Knights Templar are held to a higher code of honor than regular Masons, and are expected to at all times uphold the image of their Lodge. A Knight is expected to protect and safeguard the Lodge and it's members at all times, being first into the fray in defence of it's members. E. The Shriners Just as the Knights of the Lodge are the militant wing of the Lodge, the Shriners are the diplomatic wing. The Shriners represent the Lodge to outside factions and act as ambassadors between the Lodge and its fellow organizations. The Shriners’ duties include creating friendly relationships between the Lodge and outside forces, drafting written documents establishing the relation between the Lodge and said factions, and overall to uphold the image of the Lodge at all times. II. Expulsion from the Lodge Expulsion from the Lodge will only result from the most serious of infractions. Upon suspect of such an occurrence, a moderator or administrator for the Freemasons Offsite Forums will suspend the account of the perpetrator. The London Rite will deliberate on the punishment deserved. The suspended member may or may not - during this time - be given permission to speak in his or her own defense. If, after this period, no decision has been made, the suspension will end, and the charges will be dropped against the member in question. III. War All members are free to challenge opponents in the ARENA as much as they wish, and we indeed encourage active participation of the game However being a body of peace, the Freemasons will never declare an aggressive war on any other organization, faction, or political body. Our members will never attack another innocent citizen in a street fight, and to do so will merit punishment. However, if war is declared upon the Freemasons, every resource of the Lodge will be applied to the defense of its members. In particular, the Knights of the Lodge will be called on to fight the enemy until their last breath, or until peace has been declared. The Lodge will fight on till victory or death. History The Freemasons were founded on July 23rd, 2006 by Sir Fobia. To date, they are the oldest faction in cybercitizens and are the 3rd largest, claiming around 200 members and an active presence on the main cybercitizens forums. They have enjoyed substantial political and business success as the Cyberverse has grown, purchasing a variety of stores all around the world and holding the mayors' offices in several cities, as well as founding many of the treaties, pacts, and standards of procedure that are still in use today. The leadership body of the masons was led by Sir Fobia until around October 20, 2006 when he left the organization following scandals that surrounded reforms he intended to put into place at the Freemasons without consulting the rest of the leadership. Later, on October 26, 2006 he announced his membership and co-creation of another organization Solaris. After that point, special elections occurred and Brenden Legendary Frog was elected the new Grand Master of the Freemasons and has led them since. Early Conflicts The Trilateral Commission The Masons have remained one of the few constants in the Cyberverse, having watched many other organizations and individuals come and go. Under the leadership of Sir Fobia, the Freemasons made several attempts to coordinate their efforts among the other factions of the world, most notably through The Trilateral Commission. The Trilateral Commission was a coordinated effort to retain power in a changing Cyberverse between the Freemasons, Independent Order, and the International Fleet. It eventually met with failure as all involved besides the Freemasons disbanded. Presidential Election Conflict erupted during the first presidential election of the Cyberverse as Sir Fobia squared off against Hassan the Assassin of La Famiglia. Sir Fobia was the mayor of London at the time and made a bid for the presidency. Dispute arose between member of La Famiglia and the Freemasons and insults were exchanged. Sir Fobia was accused of stealing money from his organization but was later vindicated by Freemason auditors. Hassan the Assassin managed to overtake Sir Fobia in the polls and keep the presidency for three days before he was overtaken by Imnotinsane of DARIS. This led to further disputes over the penalties of not controlling the happiness bonus as Freemasons and La Famiglia warred over who was at fault for the failure to achieve the attribute bump. After the near dissolution of DARIS before the beginning of October, the Freemasons decided to run a new candidate against the La Famiglia's Hassan the Assassin. This new candidate was Brenden (Legendary Frog), though his bid ultimately met with failure. Abandonment and Reform Around October 20th, it became clear to many that the Freemasons were beginning to lose member numbers and suffer more and more internal disputes. To combat this, Sir Fobia announced reforms to take place within the Freemason bureaucracy, notably with a trend towards what many described as "world domination". The criticism directed at the Freemasons for this act was brutal, specifically for Sir Fobia. Many Freemasons were the primary objectors to their leadership's announced reforms and the conflict ended as Sir Fobia abdicated his position as Grand Master Mason and abandoned the organization he had founded. From that point on, many noticed that the Freemason activities on the main Cybercitizens boards seemed to drop off to nearly nothing. The London Rite fell very quiet... The reason for this was revealed on November 22nd when Legendary Frog made public the new forums which the London Rite had been diligently working on. The move was rumored to have been caused by alleged incidents where Sir Fobia continued to post on the Freemasons forums via his admin powers despite his departure. The most notable new item on the Freemasons forum include access to the Shared Mapping Project, built with the program Map Builder. Flavors of Freemasonry There is a notable difference between the different "brands" of Freemasonry found around the world. The biggest distinction is between what some call European Freemasonry and American Freemasonry. European Freemasonry'' Freemasons in the European sphere of influence take on different characteristics than their cousins across the Atlantic. They are often quieter, more concerned with the rituals and rules, and far more bureaucratic. Notable members of the European sphere of influence are Brenden, The One, u.k., and formerly Sir Fobia. ''American Freemasonry The American Freemasons are characterized by an often wild disregard for the European traditions and for handling themselves in a far more free and individual manner. They are very active on the main CC forums and hold several political offices in the American sphere of influence. Notable among them are Puritan; Keochti, mayor of New York City; and mathue, mayor of Los Angeles. November 2006 Elections and New Conflicts The most recent elections have brought Freemason politics back into the spotlight. London Mayoral Election Sparks flew after the mayoral election in London. It was the first election in London that didn't see Sir Fobia as a Freemason and front runner. Instead, the top candidates were Brenden and Asriel, a member of Solaris. The dispute arose when a private message sent by Asriel to various leaders of other factions was leaked to the Freemasons. The message included a very anti-Mason slant and it drew harsh criticisms from Freemasons and Freemason supporters. The thread in which the dispute arose was eventually locked by moderators which led to even more hostilities as both moderators are currently members of Solaris. Some saw this act as an attempt to protect their fellow guildmate. Dallas Mayoral Election Conflict arose in this election after Keochti criticized Rubberfly in his campaign thread. The issue exploded when Sir Fobia entered the thread on the side of Rubberfly and went head-to-head with Keochti over the issue. It is cooling down at the moment but has yet to be completely resolved. Results The election resulted in the Freemasons gaining a seat in Los Angeles but losing their established mayoral seat in London. Keochti continued as mayor of New York, keeping the Freemason mayor seats at 2. Reform and Rebirth Most recently, the Freemasons have undergone attempts to improve their image on the world stage. Brenden has issued the following list of reforms: The Great Masonic Reform ''-A new era dawns!-'' The Order of Freemasons approaches you today to announce a sweeping set of changes that will forever change the way that the Freemasons operate. These new reforms - which have been discussed in length by the leadership – have come after a thorough investigation into every aspect of our operation, down to the tiniest detail. These changes were made in order to better serve our own members, and the CyberCitzens universe as a whole as we all transition from the infancy of this game into a new era. A new home: After rigorous discussion within the leadership of the Freemasons, it has been concluded that our current home - the current Masonic lodge forums - is no longer suitable to maintain the secrecy of our upper level operations. It was concluded unanimously that continued occupation within the current forum presented a long term, unacceptable security risk. After mulling over a range of options, it was concluded that the best option was to move to a new secure site, which can be found below in the links section: The leadership has also embraced this opportunity to bring a variety of improvements to our forum structure in order to maximize the ease by which our members can navigate our guides, aid forums, and other helpful tools. Though it is inevitable that such a drastic move will cause some of our members confusion, it also provides a great opportunity for members to be a part of a crucial operation in the Masons and thus have their voices heard in a very big way. We invite all current members to join us at our new home. We plan to start afresh, and invite diplomats from all organizations to our shrines to discuss renewing ties. A new foreign policy: As we enter a new era in the game of CyberCitizens, it has become apparent that an appropriate change in the freemasons’ direction would be needed. We want to make it clear that the emphasis of the freemasons has now been turned toward bettering every aspect of our faction and bring improvements to the community of CyberCitizens as a whole. The bulk of our success in the early days came to us because we were one of the first factions to be founded and with that came the opportunity for our name to be the resounding voice of factions within this game. As the game opened and members came (and soon went) by the thousands, new factions formed, often emulating and in many ways improving on the already established Mason formula. The leadership of the Freemasons at the time drove to maintain the masons’ position as the faction that provided the most benefit for its membership. At this time competition bred conflict, and an unharmonious atmosphere began to build over the factions of the cyberverse, one that remains to this day. Instead of building a cooperative umbrella by which the factions could each take advantage of their own strengths to provide unique services to people, mutually exclusive alliances were created to foster the dominance of the few over the many. The Freemasons played a big role in creating this environment, and it is now the task of the new Mason leadership to try and reverse this effort. The majority of the old Mason leadership has either stepped down into smaller roles or moved on completely, and with that has arisen an entirely fresh leadership made up of the most devout and loyal Masons who have supported our cause from the game's early days. It is with under the guidance of this new leadership that the Masons wish to refocus their efforts on a few basic principles by which our operations will find their foundation. The first principle is also the Masons’ most fundamental: respect. The Order of Freemasons takes its name sake from an ancient organization that steeps itself in a history of tradition and respect. Likewise, the CyberCitizens Masonic Lodge builds its roots on mutual respect. The second principle is also shared with the actual Freemasons, and that is an appreciation of civic duty. We are all playing the same game, and it is the Mason’s goal to be a driving force behind maintaining a safe and friendly environment, creating and atmosphere where individuals can feel free to achieve on their own merits without fear of oppression or forced assimilation, providing a highly interactive off game environment where players may continue to assume their chosen citizen identities in order to expand the breadth of the game and maximize enjoyment, and finally to be constantly pushing further innovations for this game in order to create a dynamic game which people will return to years later. We will continue embracing foreign relationships at every turn, and look forward to cooperating with the many fine factions in creating a fare and balanced world in such a way that the maximum amount of opportunities lay open for members of the game. We want to encourage an open dialogue with the representatives of other factions so that we may discuss and plan how we may best serve the community as a whole while still maintaining the interests of our members. We hope to create an international backing that will look down upon isolationist, elitist, and damaging groups that take away from the possible enjoyment of the game by the masses. Instead, we will promote a more hands off approach. The best way to improve the situation for the general populace of the game is not to create an eternal monopoly by owning every store within a city, but to instead to encourage others to work their way up the ladder, invest in their own shops, create shop guilds, promote diversity, and otherwise push the idea of factions granting opportunities, not control. A new set of opportunities: The question that will be most prevalent to the general non-mason population of CyberCitizens will of course be; “How will these changes affect me?” The new buzz word of the Masons’ direction toward the rest of the population is “community.” A game such as this is takes its heart from the community. The new Freemasons embrace this idea as the primary motivation for progress. What you can expect from us is inter-faction competitions, worldwide contests, universal activities, and an overall agenda to create an environment that utilizes the idea of “fun” as much as possible. We hope to push the boundaries of what has been done thus far, blaze new trails, and give the community a dose of cooperatively-inspired camaraderie. The second generation of Freemasons invites the rest of the community to join in the celebration of new promise and possibility. Take today to see where you have come from, and then look ahead to where you are going. Wherever it is that you want to go, the Freemasons will be working to get you there. Welcome to the next stage of the game. Get involved, get excited, and most of all…enjoy! ---- Category:Organizations